Marathon Training: Long Run: 15 miles

This weekend was a 14 mile run at flatwoods park.  With that being said, Friday was a crazy day to say the least.  I did not leave work till 6:30 and still can't even imagine how many additional hours I will spend grading this week.  When I got home I made dinner, packed my bag for Saturday morning, made my bread and peanut butter for breakfast, made my smoothie and stuck it in the Freezer, picked out my clothes and was ready for bed!  Yes, I am lame, and I know it!  Friday one of my friends, Heather, came into town so I stayed up late to say hello when her and my roommate came back from dinner.  By late I mean I said hello, chatted for a few minutes and was back in bed by 8:40ish.

Saturday mornings alway come too quickly, it was 5:05 before I knew it.  It was up to the bathroom to get washed, dressed, hair pinned back, glided up, get my smoothie and into the car I was.  In the car came my breakfast of sandwich thins and peanut butter, water, and a Cliff GU- Strawberry flavored with caffeine.  I am not a fan of the GU's or anything that I need to run long distances, but I know I have to start trying them, and therefore I did.

Flatwoods Sunrise

It was 6:22 before we started running, and right before we got started, my Garmin beeped telling me low battery.  GREAT! and I have Polar in my gym bag for the gym which I went to get, then remembered I brought my gym bag upstairs the night before.

Deer at mile 4..First mile inside the park

We were off, 3 miles outside the park then 11 inside..Yes that equals 14 miles, you are correct, but the title of this post is 15..hmm.. I will get to that part shortly..Keep reading.

I enjoy running flatwoods a lot, for me, knowing there are water stations every 2 miles, gives me the motivation to keep going because I can stop shortly for a mini break.  The people there are so friendly, and stop and talk to you, and tell you to "keep going" or "you're looking good", and the scenery is beautiful, especially watching the sunrise.  I always see a familiar face.  This week was Andrea, who I trained with last year with TNT, and this year she is training for Chicago.

And then the bad part happened. (And NO, it is not this picture which was bad)

Hot air balloons welcoming us to a fabulous 15 mile run.

If you are grossed out easily, please stop reading.  

My stomach decided it should start cramping up around mile 7.75 and hurt so bad I had to stop and walk.  I knew I had to go potty.  I knew I was approaching the back entrance shortly and someone told me it was about .5 miles away from the water, it was .6, but I made it there quickly.  I didn't know if I should run or walk, and I made it just in time.  I was scared I was going to have to call my coach and have her pick me up at the back entrance.  I didn't think I could move, crouched over in pain.  But when I was done, I was a few pounds lighter, and there was nothing left in me:)  I was back to hydrating and on my way, or so I thought.  I ran about a mile or so, and started cramping again.  I was just painful.  I was upset because as much as I wanted to run, my tummy did not want me to:(

That whole scenario added another mile to my run.

At mile 11, Teresa and Grace were waiting for me.  And unfortunately for all of us, it took us much longer than I wanted it to, we had to walk about 3.5 of the 4 miles because of my stupid tum tum.

Anyway, I felt good afterwards, it still took me under 4 hours, my Garmin did not die until mile 13ish, and we had Panera for breakfast.

I still am unsure what caused the tummy issues, I have always had stomach problems, I do not know if everything just wanted to come out then, eating breakfast or eating a GU?

Thoughts?  Ideas?

Anyway, that was my run, I had a great day seeing friends